"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:2, 3).
. The first commandment presents us with an immediate crisis of understanding. For if we view these words as religious tradition has interpreted them, the mind runs inescapably toward billowy clouds, a regal throne, and a majestic figure with a long, white beard; and . . . a booming voice calling out, "I am the one, and you had better believe it!"
. Let me forewarn you. Unless you can break out of this shell of ignorance and let go the belief in the big man "out there," then the rest of this book will be of little meaning to you. This first chapter is the great test. Unless you can successfully break open this first commandment, the remaining nine will remain inviolable.
Shocking as it may seem, the "God of our fathers" is no longer adequate. Life in the space age calls for a larger thought of God. Ralph Waldo Emerson realized this many years ago when he startled audiences with the suggestion that when we break with our God of tradition and cease from the God of our intellect, God will fire the heart with His presence.
Do you believe in God? Or do you think that by saying you believe in God you really believe? To really believe in God is to have a sense of the wholeness of life and of the universe, which in turn gives rise to a believing attitude. Do you believe in yourself? Do you believe in people? Do you believe in life as a meaningful experience? If not, then your God is little more than a three-letter word, and your "I believe in God" an empty cliché.
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deuteronomy. 6:4, 5). This is the most important scripture taught to Jewish children, and it has always been the confession of faith among the Jews. It is the lovely Shema, which contains an insight that is vital to the meaning of the first commandment: THE ONE. It is the basic unity on which all things are built. The ancients wisely directed people to behold but one in all things, for it is the second that leads one astray.
The traditional concept of God has portrayed Him as living in the universe and acting on the forces of the universe. This has often implied a struggle with things and conditions of evil intent, sometimes even suggesting that He was having a hard time of it. A preacher once cried out, “We are here today to unite in support of our God. He has a great battle on His hands with the devil, and if He fails it will be the end of all of us!" What an anemic concept of the universal process!
To have no other gods before THE ONE is to have the awareness of the allness of God. God is the allness in which the whole of the universe and all that is in it exist as manifestations. Whatever the universe is it exists within the allness which is God. Thus "the Creator" does not mold and shape things and set them "down here" to fend for themselves. He (or It) can only be understood as a process that acts upon and within itself to manifest as stars, atoms, and people. Thus every person is an eachness within the allness that is God.
You are the very activity of God expressing as you. To creatively believe in God, then, is to believe from the consciousness of God. This believing energy is the continuation of the divine process that made you in the first place. This is why faith is such a tremendous creative power.
When faith is limited to the cliché of "faith in God," there is a tendency to accomodate the second that leads one astray. In other words, we have many gods within the framework of our belief-system. We may believe in God . . . and the devil. We may believe in life . . . and sickness. We may believe in substance . . . and lack. And how we worship at the altars of the medicine cabinet, the great good luck charms, and the unemployment compensation!
You may think you believe in God, but do you believe from the allness of God? Or does your faith waver between God as substance and your waning dividends, between God as health and the corner drugstore, between God as your guide and the daily horoscope?
If all things exist in and have being out of the allness of God, how can there be any other power? If the principle is 2 plus 2 equals 4, how can there be a force that tempts us to get 3? The doctrine of evil as a power, and of Satan as the prince of darkness, is a blight upon true religion. It is a rationalistic philosophy that evolved out of our inability to understand or justify human experience, and the attempt to find a scapegoat. Without a realistic understanding of the first commandment, we ask, “How could God permit the good religious person to suffer so?" Or, “Why would God cause the tragic earthquake that destroyed so much life and property?" But to even ask the question implies that we have not made the breakthrough to the inner meaning of the commandment, “The Lord our God is one Lord."
Human problems are not in God but in our limited awareness of God. Under the Pythagorean system of mathematics all numbers proceed from unity and are resolvable back again into unity. All things begin with "1." We can duplicate "1" and have "2" or "99" or a million. We can create complicated problems and formulas, but all are resolvable back again into the basic "1." Perhaps, if we had a full knowledge of the "1," which is essential unity, we would know all that exists in the world and we would have no further need for mathematics. This presupposes much, but it also tells us much of the importance of "1."
The basic ONE in the process of manifestation becomes "I AM." Much has been written about the "great I AM," usually complicating a simplicity instead of simplifying a complexity. I AM is simply being in the process of being you. Thus, it is significant that the first commandment begins with "I am the Lord your God." This means that "I AM is the Lord of your being." Only you can say "I AM." It is your true identity. It is the Presence of God in you . . . being you.
The mission of Moses was based on the dramatic revelation to him of the divine name. Tending sheep in the wilderness, he had a cosmic experience in the form of a vision of leading his people out of their bondage in Egypt. The human of him cried out, "But who shall I say sent me?" It was a natural human reaction: "How can I do such a thing?" But out of the depths of his inner being came the realization, "I AM has sent me to you" (Exodus 3:14). It was the first breakthrough into cosmic consciousness that ultimately led to the Ten Commandments. However, it is important to realize that the commandments did not come forth as divine edicts, but as carefully worked out guidelines for integrative living. The same cosmic perception that revealed the "I AM" led to the understanding to present the laws of life in the form and at the level of consciousness that Moses' people could relate to.
Under Moses' inspired leadership some pretty dramatic things were done by the power of the name "I AM." Unfortunately, the people did not understand the powerful implications. For generations the legacy of Moses was limited to a rigid code that was never completely unlocked. The key to Moses' law was the "I AM." In the centuries later, the key to understanding Jesus' teaching is the same "I AM." He said that He did not intend to destroy the law but to fulfill it, but He made it very clear that He intended to break the code.
It is significant that there is no predicate for the "I AM." This has caused many problems for those who have tried to understand the words without insight into the code. To predicate anything implies a special aspect of it, thus implying limits. It is not possible to apply a limiting predicate to the ONE, the allness of God, for there can be nothing outside of it.
A People did not understand Jesus when He said: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6) and "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25). They thought that God was being predicated as Jesus, and that Jesus, thus, had a special dispensation of power.
How biblical translation has confused this issue! A case in point: John 8:24. The various authorized versions of the Bible render this: "Except you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins." The italics indicate that the "he" has been a problem. When we consult the "Emphatic Diaglott," the line-by-line translation from the Greek, we can see why, for it clearly indicates that there is no "he" in the original. It was obviously added "for clarity," for it seemed to call for a predicate. This addition has had a profound influence on Christian theology. It has been made to appear that Jesus was saying that there is no hope for humanity unless we believe that "I am God." Actually, He was saying, "Unless you get this conviction of the basic ONE, the I AM awareness, you are bound in your consciousness of limitation, which will inevitably lead to deterioration and death."
Jesus did not come to tell of His divinity, making Him the great exception. His whole mission was to help us to know of our own divinity and to make of Himself an example of the "I AM" coming to full personal expression in us. The tragedy is that tradition has made Jesus a God and worshiped Him. Thus for most Christians the code remains unlocked. The key is very simply: Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32 A.S.V.).
Know the ONE, the Allness of God, and you will always be in the flow of good. No evil will befall you and you will find peace in all your ways. This is the message of the Bible, repeated again and again, in parable and allegory and psalm. One good example is the story of King Nebuchadnezzar and the "fiery furnace" (Daniel 3)
The King of Babylon had issued an edict that people must worship an idol of gold he had set up on the Plain of Dura. The penalty for infraction of the rule was severe: death in a furnace of fire. Now "certain Jews" (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) refused to bow down before the idol, and thus they were summarily thrown into the furnace. But amazingly, they came out unscathed, without even the smell of fire on their clothes. Nebuchadnezzar relented and commanded that all people should worship Jehovah, "the ONE."
Like the Ten Commandments, the entire Bible must be broken down so that its underlying message may be revealed. While outwardly it is a book of history and of morals, inwardly it is an outline of spiritual Truths and dealing with one very important person . . . you. The Israelites symbolize the ascending urge within you. Their temptation to worship false gods relates to the harassment that you may often feel by “the second that leads one astray." Characters like Nebuchadnezzar represent the human tendency to judge by appearances. It is that within you that says, “You might as well face the facts that this situation is hopeless." It is this negative function of the mind that may throw you into the furnace of fire, the turmoil of mental and emotional upset.
You may consider yourself to be a good student of this “new insight in Truth." You may feel that you are well-grounded in the awareness of the allness of God and the omnipresence of this God-activity in every part of your life. And then one Friday afternoon your employer hands you your paycheck, which includes a little yellow slip that says, “Your services are no longer required." You may go through your disciplined drill, "I have faith that all things work together for my good. God is my all-providing substance and supply, etc."
But then old Nebuchadnezzar, the part of you that is "practical," says, “Look, at your age no one wants you. You are in for some real problems!" Down on your knees you go before the god of lack! There may be a tendency to go running after many gods by using the "I AM" power in negative ways: "I am afraid; I am worried; I am at the end of my rope." And yet, if you hold to the Truth, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you will come through the turmoil without even the smell of fire on your person.
This is not to minimize the problems of life, but rather to maximize the power of the principle. Problems of arithmetic are to be faced. But within every problem there is an answer because the problem, no matter how complex, exists within the principle. The complexity of the numerical forms is completely reducible back into the basic "1." There is no point in saying that the evil condition does not exist. The injustice and the pain and the loss may be all too apparent. But evil is not a spiritual reality. It is simply a changing mental aberration, a concealment of the basic good. The sinfulness of a person is simply the frustration of his divine potential. He may long have frustrated it, and he may continue to frustrate it, but it remains his potential. This is the spark we might desecrate but never quite lose. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). It is every person's hope of overcoming.
One may be faced with a need for healing, but confused about how to approach it. The illness is there all right, and it is not negative to see it and accept it as a condition to be met. The condition is not outside of God. Rather, it is a frustration within the life of God. Allness remains the reality. There is allness even within the illness. This is the basic key to healing, the assurance that the person can be healed because he is whole.
Note how, when Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus, He prayed the prayer ONENESS. He did not give in to appearances and say, "I am sorry folks, it is too late!" He did not plead with God to work a miracle. He simply "lifted up his eyes" to turn from the appearance, and returned in consciousness to the principle, "I am the resurrection and the life." This was to state the principle, to know the Truth, and to affirm oneness with the ONE.
How could Jesus be so sure? Why is the mathematician so sure, so confident in the principles of mathematics? Because they are principle. He would never think of accusing the principle of mathematics for errors in computation. It never occurred to Jesus to trace the death of Lazarus to God. Others might have done so, but not Jesus. He said: "It is not the will of my Father . . . that one of these little ones should perish" (Matthew 18:14).
Principle is principle, not caprice. It is universal and inexhaustible. In principle every person is an eachness within the allness of God. This means that you are God expressing as you. It was Jesus' great discovery: the divinity of humanity. It was the direction of Moses' work to lay the foundation of the move from personality to principle. This is what the Ten Commandments are all about.
In our quest for Truth we are dealing with personal growth and self-realization. It is not a matter of trying to get into God or to get God into us. Rather, it is "be still, and know that I am God." The shadows of human experience indicate that in one way or another our God-self is being concealed. We are standing in our own shadows, and then fretting that they are outside forces. We need to say, much as Jesus did, "Get thee hence, for there is but one God, and God only will I serve."
How do you serve God? There is only one way: by believing that you deserve His total and complete support. Jesus said: "It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). It is, not was or will be or "dear Lord let there be."
Thus, the whole idea of worship of God needs to be broken down into the basic realization of "The One." Teilhard de Chardin, in his Divine Milieu, refers to the presence that Emerson says we experience when we have "broken with the god of tradition." He says: The presence is so universal and we are so surrounded and transfixed by it—there is no room to fall down and adore it, even within ourselves.
What a freeing insight this is! For we have tried to worship God, much as Nebuchadnezzar commanded people to worship the golden idol. The word worship, from the Greek proskuneo, means "to fawn or crouch, to prostrate oneself in homage." As long as we hold the man-out there image in consciousness, our worship will be an act of self-abasement. But when we break with that concept, actually break the first commandment, then we know that god is not a person to approach in servility, but a principle and proces to express in expanded consciousness. Praying to God is actually a "practice of the absence of God." The need is to return to the principle, "The One," and then pray from the consciousness of God. Instead of seeking to overcome God's reluctance, enlightened prayer seeks only to become attuned, to His eternal supportiveness.
Jesus said: "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). We worship God most effectively through the awareness and practice of creative worth-ship. It is the celebration of the I AMness of you, giving focus to the creative process within . . . that it may flow forth through you.
Walt Whitman was called an egotist and an athiest, though he was surely neither. But he may have reflected the keenest insight into the nature of God, the purpose of life, and the spirit of true worship when he proclaimed, "I celebrate myself." Jesus said it in a slightly different way: "I am the light of the world . . . you are the light of the world . . . let your light . . . shine . . ." (John 8:12) (Matthew 5:14, 16).
The first commandment is commended to you, but the next step is yours. Make a commitment today to "The One." Know that you are one with "The One" and in "The One." Do not give in to the human tendency to keep the commandment in terms of a phrase that so easily becomes a cliché. Break it down every day into an awareness of "The One," and make a daily commitment to live in that consciousness.
© 1987, Unity Books
Reprinted with permission.
